A key fixture in the Indian Super League 2016 edition features a battle between FC Goa and Kerala Blasters on Monday. Both sides were finalists over the previous two editions of the Indian football tournament, but surprisingly, they are reeling at the bottom of the table in ISL 2016 currently.
While Steve Coppell's Kerala Blasters have five points from five games so far, Zico's FC Goa have only managed to pick up four points from their five games and are at the bottom of the ISL 2016 points table.
Goa have an upper hand when it comes to the head to head record between the teams in the ISL. Zico's side have won on three occasions in the past over the Sachin Tendulkar co-owned side, who have just one win against Goa.
The importance of getting a win is prime for both sides as they want to better their performances, with the second half of the league phase almost here. "Both teams want to win the game. We can only win by going forward. We will attack as much as possible," said Kerala Blasters coach Steve Coppell. "I know Goa are at home and they will have an added responsibility to win the match. I feel it will be an attacking match from both ends and interesting for the fans.
"We don't want to do well only in one department, we want to perform well in all departments. In training, we try to improve our defence, be more creative in the midfield and be more clinical up front," the Englishman added.
Both teams have just win thus far in the tournament and the importance of bagging another victory is the need of the hour, going ahead. "We need to do our best in the next game to get the points that we need," said Zico. "We can see this year that this league has been very balanced and very different, and to be in the top four you need fewer points this year because of all the draws.
"So our main goal now is to be in the top four and our focus right now is on the game against Kerala," the Brazil football legend added.
Schedule
FC Goa vs Kerala Blasters is scheduled to kick off at 7 pm IST (2.30 pm BST) on October 24.
Where to watch live
India: TV - Star Sports 1/HD1, Star Sports 2/HD2, Star Sports 3/HD3.
Star Gold, Star Utsav (Hindi).
Jalsha Movies (Bengali).
Asianet Movies (Malayalam).
Asianet Suvarna Plus (Kannada).
Live streaming - Hotstar.
Europe: TV - Star Gold.
Australia, USA: TV - Fox Sports
Canada: TV - CBN, ATN Bangla
Bangladesh: TV - Channel 9
South-East Asia: TV - Eurosport
